Beggar

Romeo V. Tabuena, Beggar, 1956, tempera on board, 71 x 111 cm, collection of National Heritage Board

The Beggar was painted during Romeo V. Tabuena’s first years after resettling in Mexico. While the figure is transformed into a series of planes accentuating weight, robustness and muscularity, its principal form remains intact. The figure is expressively depicted to suggest the despairing urgency of psychological and physical states. The painting depicts a half-reclining man, weight supported by his right elbow. His left hand resting on his right knee, extends outward holding a beggar’s mug. The picture is rendered in a distinctive cubist style. While the figure is rendered by a series of penetrating and overlapping, heavily textured planes, total fragmentation of the body do not take place.

Born in 1922, the artist pursued his art studies at the University of the Philippines, majoring in commercial art. He then worked in advertising agencies and publishing firms. After his one-man show in 1951, he left Philippines. He continued his studies at the Art Students League in New York and toured around various European cities in 1954, before taking up residence in San Miguel de Allende in 1955. He held several one-man shows in Mexico, Canada, Brazil and Manila as well as a 20-year retrospective in New York.